Founded by Vincent Brijs in Antwerp in 2006, the seven piece interfuse improvised dance music with jazz-fusion, afro funk and rare groove. It is freaky, it is trippy and it follows no rules. Belgium has quite a tradition for jazz and funk infused leftfield grooves from Marc Moulin’s ingenious Placebo to library funksters Les Chakakas / El Chicles to the much sampled JJ Band and BRZZVLL follow in a similar tradition.
Initially re-working arrangements from jazz greats Herbie Hancock, Eddie Harris, Freddie Hubbard and Archie Shepp, BRZZVLL eventually began to construct their own forms of free jazz in an attempt to return jazz to its primitive roots based around collective improvisation.
New album ‘Waiho’ is BRZZVLL at its best: excellent psychedelic jazz-funk in which the band’s solid, characteristic sound comes forward. After two inspirational collaborations with poets and ‘Nuff Said brothers Anthony Joseph (‘Engines’) and Amir Sulaiman (‘First Let’s Dance’), BRZZVLL play the instrumental card.
With ‘Waiho’, the band express their current cry for solidarity within music as well as their daily lives. Nowadays, music is too often used as an individual consumption product. The band centralise the group experience, both in the creation process and in the interaction with the audience when performing live, by being “in the moment” and lifting the music to a higher level, as one. This way, BRZZVLL go back to the roots of jazz and funk.
The innovative electronics and dub effects on the album encourage this heightened mood. The addition of a second drummer provokes an extra percussive layering and virtuosity. The compositions, inspired by surrealism, absurdism and mysticism, still leave room for improvisation and the collective creation of sound. Get carried away by contagious rhythms and immerse yourself in this delirious trip to a world beyond ours.
Picking up numerous plaudits for their contribution to jazz back in Belgium, the band have performed extensively in their home country and have shared the stage with the likes of The Neville Brothers, Young Blood Brass Band, Marcus Miller and Alice Russell.
Sdban Records is an independent record label, obsessed with sixties and seventies grooves. It is the youngest member of the N.E.W.S. Records family, based in Ghent, Belgium. The label has recently expanded, focusing on contemporary talent. SDBAN Ultra is the sister label focusing on today’s lively jazz and funk scene, which is simply too exciting not to be explored.
Recently released on Sdban: René Costy ‘Expectancy’, ‘Let’s Get Swinging (Modern Jazz in Belgium)’, ‘Funky Chimes: Belgian Grooves from the 70’s’. Recently released on Sdban Ultra: Black Flower ‘Artifacts’, STUFF. ‘old dreams new planets’. Coming soon on Sdban: V/A – ‘Discophilia Belgica (Belgian Private Press Disco, Synthpop & Oddballs)’ + Jack Sels ‘Retrospective’. Coming soon on Sdban Ultra: de beren gieren ‘dug out skyscrapers’.
Vincent Brijs · saxophone
Andrew Claes · saxophone, EWI, darbuka
Stijn Cools · drums
Geert Hellings · guitar
Dries Laheye · bass
Maarten Moesen · drums
Jan Willems · keys
1. De Vlijtige Kip
2. Waiho
3. Andromeda
4. Wizzly Whop
5. Mantra
6. Jee
7. Mighty Mylou
8. Zwag
tracks 1,2,3,7 & 8 composed by Vincent Brijs
tracks 4 & 6 composed by Vincent Brijs & Jan Willems
All tracks produced by BRZZVLL
Recorded at Studio Kip Kaas, Mortsel, Belgium
Additional arrangements & editing by Jan Willems & Vincent Brijs
Mixed by Jan Willems
Mastering by Darcy Proper
Artwork by Bert Want
GIGS
09/09 September Jazz, Bruges
22/09 De Spil, Roeselare
30/09 NONA, Mechelen
06/10 Handelsbeurs, Ghent
07/10 CC Diest, Diest
12/10 De Casino, St.-Niklaas
04/11 Rataplan, Antwerp
16/12 AB, Brussels
